I'm Too Late
by rukaru-romance.passion
Summary: Everything was confusing. If only they had known what was coming for them...Then maybe life would have turned out better. Ruka and Mikan were getting their hearts broken today. RxH, NxM. Three-shot.
1. Broken to Pieces

**I want to make a prequel. It'll might make me or other people cry, but there's RukaRu and NatsuMikan. **_**IF**_** I make it. What do you guys think? *wink* Hmmm...**

**Oh yeah, I know pretty much nothing about weddings except for what the priest says (too many movies or fanfics? O.O).**

**Oh, and the fixing-tie-slowly part...I don't think it makes sense. If it doesn't, just tell me. O.O**

**To my small legion of fans (xD =.='): Just think of this as a...make up. :D I'll update soon, PROMISE!!**

**I dedicate this partially to my friend, Justinne (JustinneXD), because she told me to update on FB so we made a deal. xD.**

**I'm ruining the mood...sorry. =.='**

**Oh, and I think it has some similar parts to ****staroo'****s fic, Wedding Dress. =.=' or others???**

**Oh, sorry. Go on...**

I wanted nothing more than to cry.

It's weird, really.

Natsume and I had always fought for Mikan..._Mikan__._

But not...not Hotaru. Not Imai.

Not the girl who blackmailed me everyday.

Not the girl who I never realized was always there.

Not _her_, it was never her.

Yet here I am, standing like an idiot, wanting nothing more than to turn time back and tell her what I just realized.

I don't know when, I don't know where, I...I kind of don't know _how_ I started to love her...But all I know is that I've figured out, because my heart is painfully breaking into a million pieces.

There was nothing I could do to make her mine.

I wanted to, but I wasn't a traitor. I wouldn't betray my best friend for love, no matter how much it hurts.

I found it hard to swallow; I found it hard to breathe.

But all I could do...was stand there. Then all of a sudden, I heard Natsume say, "Ruka..."

I gulped and turned to look at him, trying to push my thoughts away, or to the back of my mind, at least. "...W...What?"

It was silent for a minute. Then he turned around, not looking at me, as he said, "I...I'm sorry. I know it shouldn't have turned out this way. I...I know that you love her. Hotaru."

I felt queasy. "You don't have to be sorry for anything. I was losing Mikan, and I sought Hotaru for help. I should have asked someone else."

"But there was no one else. There was no one who knew her enough. I'm sorry Ruka. I just...I don't know. I don't know anymore."

"No one does. It's not your fault, Natsume. This is how fate wanted us to end up."

"But still..."

"Nat, please," I pleaded. "Don't."

He turned around and fixed his tie slowly. "Okay, Ruka...Okay," he said softly.

The pianist started playing, and then the doors opened.

And Hotaru Imai had never looked more breathtaking.

Ruka drew a breath. It hurt that she was supposed to look that way only for Natsume. It hurt that Natsume had always won. It hurt that...it hurt the most that...she didn't love him anymore.

She was getting married to Natsume.

Hotaru looked at the three, Natsume, Mikan, Ruka...

Her heart skipped a beat when she looked at Ruka.

She was happy that she was getting married to Natsume. But she would always love Ruka also, because the pain never got a chance to heal.

She knew how painful it was for Mikan. She knew that Mikan loved Natsume; she didn't know why she started to love Natsume, even though she thought, and _knew_, at the time, that Ruka would never love her.

Or so she thought.

She didn't want it to go this way.

If she had only knew...she would have never gone to Natsume like Ruka had gone to her.

She knew when Natsume had given up Mikan for Ruka...but why didn't she tell Ruka he didn't have to fight anymore?

Everything was so confusing.

She didn't know anymore.

"Ruka-pyon..." Mikan sniffed.

"Mi-chan..."

"It hurts, Ruka. It hurts so bad. Why did he...I thought he loved me..."

"He did. But he...he gave you up because...because _I_ liked you and...Oh, this is going nowhere." He looked at Hotaru and then looked back at Mikan. "The point is, we're both getting our hearts broken right now." Again he looked wistfully at Hotaru. Mikan looked at him with wide eyes; tears unstoppable. "Ru...Ruka...You...You love Hotaru?"

Ruka started to tear up. "Yes. I do and I lost my chance, all because I didn't notice how she acted towards me. If it weren't for me being so...so _stupid_, we all would have been happy. But I was stupid. I didn't notice her as anything else but a friend and someone I could...vent out to. Now she's gone, getting married to my best friend."

"Ruka, you aren't stupid. We were all...blind. Blind and young."

The two looked at the ones they loved then looked at each other.

"I'm so sorry, Ruka," Mikan said.

"I'm sorry too." The tears he was holding back then escaped from his eyes. Why was this happening?

"Natsume Hyuuga...do you take Hotaru Imai as your..."

The two didn't want to hear anymore.

**It's a cliffhanger line isn't it? I dunno if that's just me...**

**Please click on that adorable little review button named...Review. :P**

**Tell me if you want a prequel, and I'm thinking of making a one-shot sequel. Hehe. ;D**

**(The sequel is probably gonna happen though. WHOO, I MADE THIS IN LIKE, LESS THAN THIRTY MINUTES!! THAT'S HOW FAST I AM ALS, JANI, PARI!!)**

**Oh yeah, almost forgot. I DO NOT OWN GA. xDDD.**

**...And don't blame me for mistakes, I blame the document manager thingy. =.=' :P**

**I think this is too short...I'll make it longer later. Haha.**


	2. Poll!

Review replies...;)

_Justinne :_ LOOOOLLL!!! Hi Parenthesis dude! Don't be too mean to Justinne-chan, 'kay? :D Glad you like the fic!! (I wonder is PG likes it...xD.)

**aNimeLover-chAn05:** Hehe, I'm working on it! Thanks for the review!!

you angel: Thanks for the review! At first I didn't get what you said at the end, then I read the fic again it and I was like, 'OHHH!!!' O.O I am so slow. Haha, maybe, maybe not. ;)

**Najika Tsubasa-chan:** Hehe, thanks! :D

**VioletIsARockstar:** Well, I was thinking about it, and maybe I should write a prequel and one-shot sequel or make it into a story. I'm working on the sequel. ;)

**A/N below...PLEASE READ!**

Okay, well, I dunno, I'm working on the sequel, by request of **aNimeLover-chAn05**, but there was one 'NOOOO' at it being a one-shot. O.O So, do you think it should be...

1. A oneshot with a oneshot sequel. O.O

2. A oneshot with a oneshot sequel AND a prequel (that's a fic. :D)

3. A story. 'That first part is chapter one!!!'

4. Other...which means...something that you will suggest. xDDD.

THANK YOU! (If I'm not too lazy and busy I'll put it in a poll...)

~r-r.p who is confused...and happy...and pissed at the same time. O.O


	3. Regret Turned Happiness

**The second installation of 'I'm Too Late'. I apologize for the extremely long wait. I have been contemplating which version out of two of the continuation of ITL I should go with, and though I had decided long ago, I had been too busy to type it up.**

**I have only realized now that I had shifted from Ruka's point of view to how Hotaru looked at it (though she wasn't narrating) to the normal point of view in the first chapter. O.o**

**Anyway, thank you for your reviews, and here is the second chapter of ITL.**

**Enjoy.**

Ruka and Mikan shut out the words of the priest.

They didn't want to be selfish. They wanted the two to be happy. They were their best friends, and so Ruka and Mikan were not going to ruin anything for them.

Right?

No, wrong. They didn't exactly ruin it in the way you might-scratch that, _most probably_-think.

People thought Ruka and Mikan were crying because of the 'beauty of the marriage'. But no, Ruka and Mikan did not see it that way. Yes, it would have been beautiful, but they were only human and involuntarily added contemptuously in their heads that it would have been a lot better had Natsume married Mikan and Ruka to Hotaru.

They had regretted all their actions in the past and thought to themselves that they were just, honestly, not good enough and tried in vain to convince themselves that the two were completely perfect for each other.

They knew that was wrong and they knew that they did not share that opinion. They didn't think Hotaru and Natsume were perfect together. No, not at all.

Oh, how they wished they could redo what they couldn't; how they longed to rebuild the past...

Only their friends knew how much they were suffering now; how much they lamented, how much they so desperately wanted to stop the wedding, though they knew that would be wrong.

Hotaru and Natsume though, probably thought they were at least a bit over it.

"If anyone objects to this union, please do so now or forever hold your peace," the priest said.

Those words echoed in their brains. They could see, feel their friends' gazes on them, and it took one second to contemplate what they wanted to do.

Mikan and Ruka looked at each other and nodded. It was a sign of agreement.

They would do nothing.

Nothing, that is, except run.

Hastily, Ruka and Mikan exited the wedding, running like never before. They could feel everyone staring as they left, most of all the gazes of their friends', their family, and the two; Natsume and Hotaru.

And as much as Mikan wanted to sob, and as much as Ruka wanted to just go and do something unforgivable – they didn't.

For the ones they loved.

They could hear the wedding resuming. The two didn't want to hear; and so they ran. Ran to their cars and drove to their houses.

They knew it was wrong, yet they did it.

When Ruka entered his house, he immediately called Mikan. Mikan answered, and all he could hear were sobs replacing solid words. Then she finally managed to form some.

"Ru-Ruka...W-Wha-What'll they t-think o-of us?" Mikan sobbed. "H-How will we f-face them? How will we d-do anything? S-Should we...S-Should w-we...I-Ignore th-them?"

It was too late now to redo even this part of their lives. They probably had already kissed...Already attached. Man and Wife. Natsume and Hotaru.

God, Ruka hated that he never thought before he did.

"I don't know," he whispered.

And that was all he could say – all he could ever say.

-.-.-.-

_Ding-dong!_

After a long chat with Mikan, and a long time wondering what the hell he would do now, Ruka had decided.

_Ding-dong!_

Oh, was that the doorbell?

Ruka lazily picked himself up off his couch and dragged his being over to the door, unlocking it without looking into the peephole.

"Hello?" He said.

"Ruka." Ruka rubbed his eyes. There was Hotaru, still in her wedding dress, still with her bouquet of violets.

Oh, my god. She didn't get married to Natsume, did she?

"H-Hotaru..." he muttered under his breath, truly bewildered. "What are you d-doing here?"

"Don't be so surprised, stupid," she said to him, stepping into his house. "Did you actually believe I would marry that man? Natsume is perfect for Mikan. I thought, there in the aisle, that I was happy I was going to get married to him. But I realized that when I thought about you...about how I had always still loved you...That I would be broken; so much more if I didn't tell you, myself this time, how I had felt and how I still feel. I realize now that I had loved Natsume, more than as friends, more than just something I had mistaken for respect, but he would never be the one to complete me. I loved Natsume – but I loved you more. I loved Natsume, but I knew it was wrong." Ruka looked even more shocked then. He shut and locked the door behind her, trying to think in that short amount of time.

She still loved him? Hotaru Imai had never said so many words.

Oh, he was so confused.

"H-Hotaru...I...But...What'd he say?" Ruka managed.

"After you left, after the wedding resumed...We declined, ourselves, even after 'I do'. We had a realization – the same realization, and we stopped the wedding. We took so long...We only managed to go now and we didn't bother changing."

Ruka didn't bother changing out of his clothes either.

"I...Are you...okay?" He struggled.

"Yes," she whispered. "Now that I'm with you."

She inhaled sharply. "Ruka...I love you, you idiot." Ruka felt like a girl, wanting to cry.

God, he was so happy, so confused, so distressed. He gave a sigh of relief, and after wanting to laugh at himself for some bizarre reason, he went closer to her and hugged her tightly. Reluctantly, Hotaru returned his hug, wrapping her arms around his waist just as tightly.

"I love you, Hotaru Imai. Dear god, I've Ioved you for such a long time yet I was such a clueless moron. I never want to do that again. I love you; I love you."

Hotaru pulled back and sealed his lips into a sweet kiss. "I love you too, idiot."

It was their own way of saying an early 'I do.'

**Instead of making this a two-shot, I decided on a three shot. :)**

**The next part is Natsume and Mikan's...among other things.**

**Yeah, this is kinda bad. And cliche -.-'**

**Review, please! :D**

**-r-r.p**


End file.
